The Effect of Augmented Reality on Performance, Task Loading, and Situational Awareness in Construction Inspection Tasks

The construction industry is characterized by the need to perform detail-oriented tasks in complex environments – requiring tools and systems that prioritize precision, efficiency and safety. While Augmented Reality (AR) has emerged as a potential avenue for these tools, its effectiveness and impact on performance and situation awareness, as well as the challenges it may introduce, are yet to be fully understood. This research aims to investigate the efficacy of AR’s use in this domain through the representative task of inspecting prefabricated concrete panel casts, using studies complete with visual and auditory distraction simulations to explore two new AR schematic visualization systems. This work employs a dual-task user study (N = 18) to measure the impact of the AR on Situation Awareness, Task Loading, and Task Performance when compared to the conventional standard of paper blueprints. We find that AR solutions can lower perceived mental and temporal demands without negatively affecting situation awareness. Further, the AR solutions reduced the rate of false negatives and required less time than paper blueprints, suggesting that AR holds promise for improving construction workflows through increased performance and speed without impacting the safety provided by maintaining situation awareness.